Towns Expand Aid To Workers

Counseling May Head Off Troubles

January 13, 1991|By David C. Rudd.

At a time when towns everywhere are seeking ways to reduce costs, in some instances by cutting employee benefits, several northwest communities are about to give their workers a counseling program they believe will be second to none.

And they intend to save money in the process.

The program, sponsored by the Northwest Municipal Conference, will provide the workers with counseling services that, among other things, cover marriage problems, emotional troubles, financial difficulties and alcohol or drug abuse.

By working through the conference, a coalition of 40 cities, villages and townships, the communities will be able to take advantage of group rates. This is particularly important to smaller towns that might not be able to afford such an employee-assistance program, or EAP, on their own.

``The joint program approach is more cost-effective,`` said Trixie Goldberg, an administrative assistant with the conference. ``We have a potential pool of 3,000 employees. No provider wants to come to a town with just 300 employees.``

The suburbs pay the entire cost of the services and, in return, expect to get a more productive work force.

``The public sector is now realizing that they have to invest in their human resources as well as the private sector,`` said Ivy Spataro, director of the Employee Assistance Network for United Charities, an EAP provider.

``Shrinkage of the work force makes retention of employees that much more significant.``

Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights, Palatine, Evanston, Barrington and Northfield already have agreed to join the EAP consortium in coming months, Goldberg said, and others plan to do so later in the year.

Goldberg added, however, that communities such as Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates, which already offer their own counseling programs, don`t plan to join the conference`s EAP.

The yearly cost to join the program is $19.50 per employee, Goldberg said. The market price for an employee-assistance program is about $25 per employee, she said.

The towns hope to improve the morale and productivity of their workers and to increase the safety conditions in the communities. But officials also hope to reduce the costly medical bills that follow when off-the-job or on-the-job stress becomes unbearable, EAP professionals say.

Mt. Prospect village trustees had considered making employees pay for some of the costs, but eventually decided not to require a co-payment, said village personnel coordinator Donna Pike. The program will begin in February. Industry studies show that an organization offering an employee-assistance program saves $4 for each $1 spent on the program, said Spataro of United Charities. Her organization runs a consortium-based EAP for the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association that covers about 700 employees.

Evanston, which has 800 municipal employees covered by an employee-assistance program, decided to join the consortium and cease its own 12-year-old program because the consortium will offer ``more services more easily`` with more counselors at its disposal, said Judy Witt, the city`s personnel director.

Though some municipalities, including Chicago, Evanston and Skokie, have offered their own programs for several years, many others are using them because the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 recommends them, said Michael Garfield, director of corporate services for Comprehensive Psychological Centers. That firm runs the Northwest Municipal Conference`s EAP.

Thirty percent of the municipalities in the Chicago area offer an employee-assistance program, Garfield said, adding that up to 75 percent may offer one by May.

``The EAP is the best proactive way to attack employees` problems,``

Garfield said. ``With the EAP, they`re not left to the wolves as to how to deal with problems.``